My brother and I have decided not to exchange Christmas presents this year. Instead, we are going to help someone in need. You know how they have those Christmas Lists that kids write and they get printed in the paper? Well, we got way lucky. My brother found someone’s Christmas List on the Metro North, while commuting from NYC back to Connecticut! Actually, the guy who was sitting next to him forgot it when he was collecting the rest of his fancy Wall Street Investment Reports and got off the train in Mamaroneck.

I would like to propose that we all band together and get this poor girl the items from her “dream wish list.” I think this girl has really and truly embraced the spirit of Christmas. Her boyfriend already put notes next to everything so some of the legwork is even done for us!

Let’s pause for some commentary. I like how her poor, obviously long-suffering boyfriend, put a question mark next to bicycle and “whatever the newest Chanel makeup is (as long as I don’t already have it.)” What is this guy supposed to do? Look through your makeup bag, take notes, and then go to the counter and say “Give me everything newer than this?” I also love that she misspelled Kerastase and he inserted the “S.” He seems detail oriented. (I have a theory that there are two types of people in the world: Detail Oriented and Big Picture. Detail oriented are the ones who crunch the numbers, dot the I’s, cross the T’s, and make sure the bills are paid on time. They are your Assistants, Associates, Analysts, etc, and they do not typically make a lot of money. The Big Picture people are the geniuses who see the path to success, the ones who can make it all happen, the movers and shakers. A Big Picture person would dispense this nonsense list to his assistant to handle so he could go off to make more money.) I think “Ivana More Stuff” set her sights on someone who may not be able to pay for her lofty ambitions.

She also wants Louis Vuitton City Guides, which you can clearly get on the cheap by another publisher. Has she heard of Fodors? Frommers? Phonies? Okay, maybe not that last one. But, she wants classic literature cheap. In fact, that’s the only thing she is price sensitive to. Poor Dickens is rolling over in his grave right now.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way- in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

How…fitting.

Oh, and speaking of things that fit, on to the shoes!

I would love to post a picture of the Louboutins, however, those fuckers defied all previous fashion norms and managed to copyright that stupid red sole they have. I worked in Fashion for a few years and this is unprecedented! Designers just had to live with being knocked off. So, anyone who posts a picture of their shoes gets slammed with a copyright infringement notice. I will, however, give you this link.

Let’s keep going.

The purses. This bitch is so into purses. Men, please listen up. Any girl who obsesses this much over purses at this price level is wasting your time. There will always be some new, fancier, more expensive purse she needs to have - and don’t think it ends there. If $1000 purses don’t keep her appeased, she’ll be trading you like yesterday’s Louis in no time. And if she’s spending all her time making lists for you with links to all the places you can find such purses, guess what she’s not doing? Yeah that’s right big guy. You’ll have to figure out how to make that thing throw up all by yourself.

I had to check the price on the Cartier Love Bracelet. While Cartier won’t give you prices, it does appear it is $6200 according to other websites. Yowsers. Honey, I know you’re living in a bubble…a purse and Cartier filled bubble with your noise canceling ear phones on, but we’re in a recession. R E C E S S I O N. Do you know how many people will claim less than $6200 in income this year on their taxes? Probably one for each perfectly coiffed hair on your head.

Last part of the list.

My dog and I are currently sharing a chenille blankie that set me back $29. I’m warm though. I wonder how much warmer I would be if I were under the fancy Hermes Orange blanket. Would I be $1096 warmer? I dunno.

All right. So we have a plan laid out in front of us. If 150 of us can each contribute a dollar to this poor thing, we can buy her the Smythson Passport Cover.

Clearly you have no idea how this recession has hit our brethren, the previous super rich, upper classity, snooty snoots, I rinse my teeth with caviar cohorts. And then daddy got scammed out of his money by that Madoff villain (daddy’s rightfully scammed millions from the slobbering masses mind you - fair and square). If we don’t deserve our diamond encrusted Louis Vitton handbags for Christmas (and not those so-yesterday Kate Spade, yes I turn my nose down at you Kate Spade handbags)… then what do we deserve at all??

Yours Truly,
Richy Bitch in Manhattan (not the other four bottom-barrel burroughs) of NY

what. the. christ. Who gives someone a Christmas list totaling the price of a car? Or down payment on real estate? I want to know if she is expecting MORE than one of these things.

And to Anon - she may be rich in things, but how does that really translate? She’s a target for theft, probably quite bitchy, and quite vacant inside. Not to sound all cliched, but seriously. I don’t want to have a lifestyle where I need a Hermes blanket. Ugh.

People people! Focus! I have received zero dollars to date. That passport cover ain’t gonna buy itself!!!

Rosie - I was too. My brother told me he was sending me something and didn’t say what. If he said he was sending someone’s Christmas List, I never would have believed that reading it would practically slap me in the face.

Anon - Don’t be so sure about the laughing to the bank part. An unsurprising amount of people live on credit. I don’t have any $1000 purses, but I do have credit cards with zero balances.

Siryn - You just have to dream bigger I suppose. And find a sucker to buy it all for you - or at least do painstaking amounts of research. I have told Mr. X not to buy me anything. Considering we can barely fit into my condo now without someone or something falling out a window, I believe he has complied with my wishes. We’re going to cast off our extra “stuff” as stocking stuffers. Now. Which one of you wants a sweet little chinchilla in your stocking this Saturday?

The Brit - It is very sad that there are people out there who still haven’t learned that consumption isn’t always a good thing. The more stuff someone wants, the unhappier they are.

Johnny - Bravo! But MY Kate Spade handbag was scored for a sweet $68, down from it’s original price of $395. Love those coupons.

Carrie - I’d stop with “who gives someone that list,” considering I’m never one to ask for specific things. This year when people asked me what I wanted, I said, “I want things no one can really give me. I want Sammy and Thora to live forever.” So my friend bought me pet insurance. Ha ha. Love that!

Nancy - Yes, as detail oriented as he was, I’m surprised he lost the list. Though my brother did say they were sitting in a row of three with each of them bookending it and their stuff in the middle. The boyfriend was shuffling so many things on the empty seat that the list got stuck under some of my brother’s stuff and the boyfriend didn’t notice before he got off the train.

Ok, I grew up and live in the area from whence this list was birthed, a fairfield county woman. But this list is BEYOND hilarious!! How many purses does one desire??? And OMG, this boyfriend, with the notes, what will he do now that he lost it??

You know, I like her list. I think she has good taste (beyond the orange Hermes blanket), so I’m going to give her the benefit of the doubt. I think her boyfriend/husband/father/cousin-in-law asked her to make that list. She doesn’t make any conditions on it like “I want all of these” or “I just want one or two,” so I’m thinking the boyfriend is behind it.

Maybe I’m being kinda Rupublicanny over it, too, when I think that if that guy wants to get her that Alexa bag or pay $1200 for a leg throw, then let them.

But really? Green, navy or orange on like, everything? She has no sense of color.

Ranellibean - the orange blanket is atrocious. I also couldn’t rag on anything Tiffany since they usually prove to be classic and tasteful. Unless your first or last name starts with “H” I can’t see wanting that blanket. Like I said - chenille: $29. Warm. I think my fleece one from Target was $20.

Spankydog - I’m a Fairfield County girl as well. But I grew up on the “other side” of the Post Road. There was no backcountry, Bentleys or $6000 watches for me. We didn’t even have Atari. We did, however, have a fleet of vehicles various people dumped off on us.

Descamp - Groan. The spousal support collector is on my list marked: lowest of lows.

Cube - Too late. Gawker got it. How are you? Where have you been?

Chris - She’s too busy looking at new purses to suck it. And it ain’t gonna suck itself…lesson of note here: If you pay more attention to your stuff than you do to your man, he will undoubtedly begin resenting you and one day he’ll start bopping his secretary. Unless, of course, she IS the secretary.

Dara - I prevent myself from having too much stuff by living in a 600 sf condo with the husband, 2 dogs, 2 fucking chinchillas now, no linen closet, and no pantry. Even when my mom wanted to dump my high school yearbooks off on me, I had to give that a ton of thought because something in its place would have to go. Hmm. Yearbooks or tampons.

Cheryl - I thought “in not black” was the color. Not saying “any color but black” but that the color is indeed called “not black.” In addition to grammar though, she also needs lessons on how to not be an asshole. The bf can order up his next gf in “not asshole” as opposed to “anything but an asshole.”

Let’s look at this list from a different perspective: what if the guy is some super freak and makes the list-maker do ‘two girls and a cup’ every night, or dress up like his mom and bark like a dog before they make love. Or maybe the guy is like the main character from American Psycho.

Maybe this lady has “earned” everything on this list for putting up with this guy’s crazy behavior. You never know…

To be fair, however, I do give my husband a two or three page list of things he could buy me for my birthday every year. There’s usually nothing on it over $50, and it is generally in the form of my most recent Etsy favorites, but it is crazy long because in addition to whatever he decides to get me, his mother is going to call and ask what I want, as will his step mother and siblings. So, maybe this is so he can buy her one bag and suggest the Penguin set to his mother as a gift. Maybe he’s pricing this all out so he can pick one thing. Maybe.

Sher - I’ll tell my brother when he sees him on the train to give him a set!

Kengurupoika - It seemed he got distracted shuffling papers, and this list got stuck in with my brother’s newspapers and when the guy pushed his own stuff, it went further into the stack of papers and he didn’t grab it before he left.

Cassandra - Possibly, but if I were her, I would demand the gifts on the spot. “I’ll bark like a dog but not before I get my Louis!!!”

Um and Uh - Wow. Yeah, I’m learning. All I asked for was that I wanted my dogs to live forever, so my wonderful friend bought me pet insurance. Ha! My husband and I decided we’ll just go away for the weekend. We have enough stuff. In fact, does anyone want two chinchillas or some old tupperware?

Rissy - Then she should have put lube on that list. I’m sure the cheap CVS lube isn’t good enough though…

She probably knows that her boyfriend is in a position to buy her an expensive gift. She’s listed the things that she wants. We all have wish lists and items we’d like; just because MY “dream level” is about $100 doesn’t mean I should begrudge someone whose “dream level” is $10,000. To someone in less fortunate circumstances than I, $100 would seem over-the-top, too. It’s all about perspective.

If he is in a financial position to make an extravagant purchase, why not? It’s his money! Who are we to judge how he spends it, or what she wants as a gift?

For all we know, he’s a financial whiz and she’s a cardiologist. Who knows…who cares?

It’s a funny and surprising list, but who are we to judge how others spend their own money and what items they put on their own wish lists?

If I had that kind of money- I wouldn’t choose these things- but sure the more presents the better! We all like pretty stuff! I would want to make an equal donation to good charities, however…karma and everything….

Another John - Thanks! And tell the lovely wife that Rissy commented back to her.

Ella - We all have dream lists. But I think the general sentiment is that a list this over the top is, well, selfish perhaps is the right word for what is going on in the economy and world right now. Times aren’t booming. We’re not rolling in dough. And frankly, it’s this flagrant over the top spending that put so many people under water to begin with. Housing Bubble anyone? So, is it any of my business that this spoiled bitch wants all these things? No. Probably not. However, is it my business if they charge it, file bankruptcy, and expect the rest of the world to pay for their debts that were forgiven? You bet your fucking ass it is.

DC Cap - I’ve been blogging here and there, but Velvet took on a new flavor when the man and I got married. My life got…tamer.

Priest’s Wife - Agreed. I would choose to send the money to animal rescue groups. I guess someone could call me out for not saving humans, but that would be my choice. No one speaks for the animals.

Megan - Don’t know - all I know is her unfortunate boyfriend/husband sat next to my brother on the train, and there goes the list!

Well, we don’t know he’s not paying cash. That’s why I said “Is it my business IF…” The truth is, few people carry that kind of cash, so I assume you are saying he’s charging it and paying it off in full.

Have I decided they are shallow and selfish? Yes. Financially irresponsible? Maybe. Jury is still out on that one. But I can tell you that if I had that kind of money (as her boyfriend,) I could find a shit ton of better things to do with it. I was born and raised in Greenwich by parents who paid cash for everything and put their extra money in the bank. It is a lesson lost on many people today. I think many people, myself included, aren’t living this life, so it’s astonishing to see how the other half lives.

Could you personally spend $6K on a watch if you walked by a ton of people on your morning commute who could use it more than you could? I couldn’t. I would get a lot more satisfaction out of spreading that money around, or saving it, than I would spending it on a watch. Shit, I was collecting unemployment when the oil spill happened in the Gulf and I figured out how to give $200 once I saw those pelicans covered in oil online.

This just really makes me want a rich boyfriend. I assume if he could get me things like this I would have to endure a lot of ass fucking, but it is Cartier. I would just think of my pretty, pretty bracelet.

I kid, I kid.

Also, while I will never be rich, I am an assistant and my boss can barely function without me. (OK, that is an exaggeration…but not by a lot). As a result, I make a lot more money than people would expect. Just a tiny thoughts.

I just gotta say that I want THIS rich bf. Fuck the fancy gifts. Any dude that takes the time to painstakingly go down that damn ridiculous gifts, costing them out, and brainstorming which books to buy is a saint.

This makes me shake my head at society. Even if I dated someone with enough money to feed America, I would feel extremely uncomfortable asking for such things. It just seems . . . I don’t know . . . gross? Gauche? Tacky? I look around my room at my shoe collection (it the one thing I’m excessive about) and even though they bring me a bit of joy, I wouldn’t be brought nearly as much joy if someone else had bought all of them simply because I demanded it. Something to be said about hard work.

It does say “dream wish list” doesn’t it? What’s wrong with shooting big - at least she had multiple price levels. As a guy, lists like this make me ecstatic - at least I know what I am dealing with. I like all the women shitting on her - you would be thrilled to get these gifts. Hypocrites.

#1 theres a word for people like that: spoiled.
#2 being in the position to be able to spend something does not mean you should be doing it. ever heard of financial responsibility?
#3 sure it’s all about perspective, but money is relative in this economy. some people are not doing very well at all. for $10,000, you can feed a lot of people, for $100, not so much. relativity, yes?
#4 who are we to judge how others spend their money? being people who live in this society and seeing how irresponsible some people are spending their money instead of putting it to more productive use, we have every right to judge them. in fact, i’m judging you right now for your opinions.

Agree with above - just because you don’t have the means doesn’t mean you should hate. What if they have been married 30 years and this is a huge occasion? Just think you sound bitter and shrewish. Get over yourself.

Hypocrites? “I love how” you’re shitting on people who don’t agree with her frivolous and extravagant spending. You’re making the assumption that the people who are scorning her for this list are not able to afford the things on the list. And you are wrong.

Amy - Thank you!! We’re not even sure he’s rich though, he might be just barely squeaking by and she’s just going for the gold…err…Cartier.

DanglingBaby - it does seem she was at a loss for words at various points during list-making.

Aja - A-fucking-men.

John - You bring up a good point about how guys have to play the guessing game with women. I, personally, would not be thrilled to get any of these gifts, but I’m a saver. If my husband spent $5k on a watch, or $130 on a passport cover, I would feel a the pit-in-the-stomach sensation that the money should have gone toward our future.

Dave - If they have been married 30 years, then he got married when he was around 5, based on the looks of him. I’ll take bitter and shrewish, I’ve been called worse. However, bitter would imply that I wanted the items in question but am too po’ to afford them. You are wrong, my friend. See, I don’t want the items at all. In fact, when my husband and I were to be engaged earlier this year, I said, “No ring.” He didn’t listen, but I still said “No Ring.”

If we all sat idly by and watched other people do whatever the fuck they wanted without regard for anyone or anything else, then we’d have nothing to talk about and we would have no housing bubble and no economic crisis. Oh. Wait. That’s exactly what DID happen and look where we are now.

people….i think this is pretty hilarious actually. And - remember it says DREAM WISH LIST. Don’t we all have a dream wish list? Don’t be so quick to judge…I’d be more than thrilled to receive some of those things, however, I’d also be concerned that my husband spent so much…and he never would, so no biggie!

Really, I hate when people get all “I’d do so much more for the world if I had that much money.” You know what, most of us here in America are as financially far above 90% of the people on the earth as the person writing this list is above us. To them, spending even $50 to eat out with our family would be obscene because that amount could feed theirs for months. So, do you still indulge in the luxuries that seem reasonable to you, like the $29 fleece throw (when a $1 blanket from the thrift store would keep you warm, then you could donate the other $28) and an engagement ring, or did you sell that ring and give the money to the homeless? We all indulge ourselves and don’t give as much as we could to the less fortunate. My family personally tithes (10% of our gross income) to charity, but I don’t pretend that I’m so much holier than richer people.

Sarah - The brother informs me that he was looking at it, stacked it with a bunch of other papers, and put it next to him on an empty seat. Then he exited the train and didn’t collect all the papers. My brother, out of boredom, started reading some magazine he left there, then saw the paper beneath it. Maybe he did mean to leave it, out of disgust. But considering it was the evening train back to the burbs, it was probably emailed to him at work where he printed it out and brought it home with him. Or tried to.

jnetter - Well, same here. I would never want something like that nor would I be pleased if Mr. Velvet spent that kind of money on me.

Just Brenda - Thank you! Welcome!

Mr. Velvet - Ha ha. Nope you didn’t. I tried.

Angie - Well, I never promised to save the world, I just choose to direct my money to animal rescue groups. I personally wouldn’t spend $5K on a watch if I knew that money could help a high kill dog shelter not have to put down so many animals or if it could educate people on why they don’t have to have a god damned pure bred perfect dog from a breeder. But I digress. Sell my ring and give the money to the homeless? Oh. My. God. Which tree are you hugging so I can come by and say hello? As I said, I would have preferred that he not spend the money and we put it in the bank. I never said that I would earmark it and distribute it to homeless people. Not only would that not be my charity of choice, but, I would never insult the love of my life and his choice in a gift (I didn’t ask for) to signify our relationship. And so good for you that you give money away to charity. I would also support the idea of everyone personally saving 10% of their gross income, but who am I to say. We live in a world of credit and stuff.

You know, i seriously still can’t believe that you bothered to judge this girl based on a xmas wish list your bro picked up on the train.

Dude, its a DREAM wish list. If i had to make one, i’d have loads of stuff down. A grand house, a sleek sports car, many branded bags etc. Obviously all the things my money can’t buy me precisely because this is a dream wish list. I know that its not going to come true but but it can be nice just to put it in a list right. People walk by stores all the time and have a brief thought about how it would be nice to have this certain item.

Similarly, its like when people ask you to describe your ideal guy. He is IDEAL for a reason. To which people will obviously come up with tall, handsome, wealthy, nice, generous blabla etc. We all know this guy is one in a million. billion perhaps and we’ll most definitely marry someone that would not be like that. But if we were judge based on those descriptions, wouldn’t we be seen as shallow, materialistic etc??

So i really really really pity the girl who’s list was actually meant to be private. The fact that the guy left it there doesn’t mean it wasn’t private to her. And since when was it a crime to have dreams.

I hope you’ll stop jumping on these small fragments of other’s lives you chance upon and drag it up onto your blog to criticize them when you have nothing else (or as interesting you might think) to blog about. Go read a book and judge it all you want.

girlrover - I did see that. I actually figured it was because it was super expensive, but the alternative theory works too!

Val - I’ll just address your last paragraph because it’s late and I’m sleepy-time. You hope I’ll stop jumping on small fragments….um…okay. Well, they say to never deprive someone of hope because it might be all they have. Thanks for your recipe and advice on what I should and shouldn’t do but based on how this post has proliferated through the web, I think I have managed to write content that people enjoy. And it’s my website. I’m allowed to judge whatever I want. As are you. Because look! You came here to comment!

Also, the whole argument about the list being something she hoped would stay private…fucking crock of shit. Yes, I’m sure she hopes that no one ever finds out she asked for a bunch of purses that have their label obnoxiously printed up down and sideways on the thing. Shhhhhh. It’s a Louie. But it’s a secret!!!!

@Dave - It’s clear you date only women like the clueless twit who wrote this list, so obviously you would expect all women to be overjoyed at receiving any of these gifts. Therefore, it’s also clear that you don’t view women as people to be your equal partner in a relationship, so what the hell do you expect from those you date? If you’re going to pick girls who only care about sparkly things who look nice and are willing to fuck you, don’t expect scintillating conversation and selflessness and then accuse all women of being this way.

I would be horrified if a boyfriend or husband spent this kind of money on such ridiculous things for me. If someone wants to impress me with their wealth, they could make a massive donation to CARE or the ASPCA or WWF in my name - do something good with your money. Or travel somewhere and do volunteer work while you’re there. Don’t waste it on crap you don’t need. Wealth without responsibility is disgusting and, as many other commenters have pointed out, is exactly what landed us in the economic disaster we’re currently in today. Such conspicuous consumption right now is not only insensitive and unwise, it’s disgustingly tacky.

And I’m not “poor”, either - just one of the rare few offspring of wealthy people who taught their children the important responsibilities that come with having money - primarily, that you are responsible for giving it away to those who have less than you, because there is never enough for the government to care for everyone, and you’re not gonna take it with you when you go.

And @Velvet - You have a new Superfan. Parents who never purchased anything on credit AND an animal lover?!?! Keep on keepin’ on. (Connecticut FTW!)

All those saying it’s “JUST A DREAM WISH LIST” … ummm, if it’s just a dream, then why was he taking it seriously by commenting in the margins and looking things up? I have a dream wish list too. A castle. A trip around the world to every luxury spa and yoga retreat in existence. A lifetime supply of chocolate malts from Mel’s. An iPod with endless space that never dies. I don’t look up specifics and attach links and give the list to someone. It’s a dream for a reason - you’re not supposed to take it seriously. This, on the other hand, is quite blatantly something that both parties took very seriously.

[...] Do you like to engage in mindless consumerism like me? Are you also weird and international-y? Perhaps you might be interested in some of these offerings for your New Year celebration. I know I would. Even more than I am interested in this gift list. [...]

How do you know the list is for a boyfriend vs husband? Or that it wasn’t the assistant that managed to lose the list he/she had been researching for their boss?

Although I admit there’s not a single thing on this list of interest to me, I think having a dream list is fun and my own boyfriend of 13 years would love to have a list to make his life easier. (It’s a recession and I’m unemployed, so we’re keeping it under $20.)

I think it’s kind of cute that someone put some effort into researching the list and figuring out that Kerastase was spelled wrong.

Although originally computer generated, I found it a little refreshing that this couple is still printing out lists on real paper and then using a real pen in hand to make notes on said real paper list. I guess he didn’t get an IPad for his birthday. Maybe that is on HIS Christmas “wish” list. Actually, I don’t even know if you can write on an IPad. Can you? Anyway, I didn’t get a chance to make a wish list this year. My boyfriend got me what he thought I wanted through investigative work he did when I wasn’t paying attention. Whatever it ends up being, I adore that. He, on the other hand, was a little annoyed that I asked him to make me a list (I mean boys are hard to shop for, right?). That, in turn, annoyed me a little. He did, however, begrudgingly make a list on the back of an envelope that had two items (both around a hundred bucks each) of which I purchased both. I had actually been thinking I went a little overboard. I feel a little better now.

Why is everybody assuming she wanted it all. Maybe the guy said, put together your wish list and she did. I doubt she’s expecting all of that, I doubt shes expecting most of it. Maybe she would just be happy with the spa package and the books. Point is, who knows.

Daddy Whorebux - late 30’s / early 40’s, dark hair with a bit of gray, thin. So there. I just described half of NYC. Sorry. That’s what he looked like though.

Velvet Fan - Ha ha. Loved “Connecticut FTW.” I can’t say we were raised to give it away, my parents are depression babies. They get money and stuff it in the bank. This, of course, is a drastic improvement over what we could have turned out like. Greeks are known for stuffing money in mattresses. At least they taught us to open bank accounts and save for a rainy day. (A rainy day which, mind you, must be an incredible tsunami hurricane tornado to get my dad to part with a few dollars.)

Dream what? - I am wondering if she made it for herself, just as a point of reference, then gave it to him? I felt bad reading those notes. I want to find him and set him up with someone else.

Joanna - I do know it was a guy, like I said above, in his late 30’s / early 40’s, who works in Finance because he had investment reports with him that he also forgot. It could be a wife. It could be a girlfriend. Hard to tell, but in any case, yes, he went through some extensive research.

Lower Middle Class in Love - Um…you’re asking the wrong person about an ipad. I have no clue. I’m notoriously the last person to upgrade to the “next big thing.” Spending $200 on a loved one seems totally acceptable to me. Last Christmas I got my husband a trip to Napa, but of course, the bargain hunter I am, we flew on miles and I got a package hotel deal, for around $250 that included breakfast and Happy Hour snacks. We did rather well, all things considered. Of course unless you have miles, it’s hard to pull off a trip like that for so cheap.

Jason - It’s not wrong, but, I think the general sentiment here was that because of the location of the train, the guy was a Wall Street guy. (Which he was based on the other things he left behind.) I think the public has run out of sympathy for the Wall Street guys after we watched them all get bailed out, then collect huge bonuses. AIG anyone? It’s just a testament to our times that it seems from this list, there are people out there who haven’t learned a damn thing. There were plenty of people who made the incomes to afford million dollar houses, and so they bought them. But then one bad season or a layoff, and they were out of cash within a month and getting foreclosed on. Who ends up paying for all this? The rest of us.

It’s a dream list, he probably will get her one thing on the list and asked her for a list (that’s why he priced them out).
Maybe he got her something last year that was extravagant but not something she really liked.

Thank you for this blog post and the comments that followed. It is a VERY slow day at work and the entertainment they gave me was priceless. Couldn’t be happier I stumbled upon your blog! Thank you for the laughs ~ Merry Christmas!

I can’t imagine writing a list like that, ever. There’s just nothing on there that interests me. Also? We couldn’t afford any but the least expensive things on there. I can’t say that I begrudge the girl her toys, though. I know several people who enjoy “designer” crap and none of them are vacuous, gold-digging, lumps of useless flesh. I didn’t realize that those things go hand in hand.

I giggled my way through this entire post but the comments made me feel a little guilty for doing so. It’s just a list found on the train, guys. I get the eye-rolling and general bemusement but there is some real nasty stuff in here. Who knows what the details of these people’s lives are? Without knowing for sure, it hardly seems worth getting that bent out of shape.

Andrea - I think she’s either ready for the recession to be over, or there never was one for her and the man.

Billp - Maybe. Appearances are deceiving though. A lot of times the people we think have money end up not having anything. Think of all the people who had million dollar plus houses in the heyday. Then they got laid off and 2 months later couldn’t make a payment. Sometimes people have a ton of stuff, but no money in the bank.

Amanda - Not being able to afford the least expensive thing on the list reminds me of this clip of Oprah on Talk Soup last week. She’s passing some photogs who ask her what to get their mom and she says something about a jewelry box. The guy responds and says, “less expensive” and she goes, “It’s not expensive, it’s around $100.” And he says, “Yeah. LESS expensive.” And thanks for pointing out that it’s a list found on a train. The few comments that either want to put my life under a microscope or want to defend her right to purchase whatever she wants have missed two important points: Recession & Sarcasm.

Not always true, they do if they are cheap or, by the grace of God, they care about value and have some common sense.

My jaw dropped when I read the list, and I’m still amazed. I realize that it’s a “dream” list but there was entirely too much research on both sides to not think that she seriously entertains a hope of getting something from the lower parts of the list.

You can tell that she’s not really from money, or is very young, by how she terms things - “fancy,” for example. But she wears Chanel makeup, which isn’t cheap, and it sounds like she has a lot of it. Just sounds spoiled. He, on the other hand, gave her a nice spa gift last year, which was reasonable (note the “ok”). She upped the ante a thousandfold this year.

It is nice that she is so insulated from the recession that she can ask for such things. And it’s nice that she wants him to stimulate the economy with such extravagant spending, but next time she should try picking more stuff that comes from small businesses here at home, and justify the extension of the lower taxes on her boyfriend’s upper margins.

I love how this bitch wants a bicycle. He probably put the ? because he could not picture her on a bicycle, in her sparkly Louboutins, with her oversized Alexa bag, actually moving her legs to get somewhere. And anyone who requests a $6k+ “love” bracelet has absolutely no clue what love means.

ah p.s. - I have a feeling this dude’s secretary did the research and made the notes (hence the correction to spelling of “Kerastase” - do you really think any (straight) man knows how to spell Keratase?? come on!). And something tells me the type of man who can afford to buy all this crap for this type of girlfriend/wife/whatever does NOT have the time to research every item and take notes.

So the dude got off in Mamaroneck, eh? Not too surprising but would have predicted it was more like Rye or Greenwich, CT with that high maintenance xmas wish list.

I grew up in Mam’k and the reason I say “not too surprising” is because it may not be the wealthiest enclave in America but it certainly breeds a competitive bunch. A xmas “tradition” beginning as early as first grade was to call all your friends up and size up what they got versus how you made out. Generally, a call would come in about mid morning, after most of us had unwrapped our gifts. The caller on the other end would want to know “what did you get for xmas?” (w/ glee in voice). On the other end of the line you could hear the caller taking notes (mental and physical) remarking anxiously, “go on….go on….yeah, what else, Ok, uh huh……and then …pause……”that’s it??? you didn’t get anything more than that???? Really?? Oh come on…….that’s only 10 or so gifts…..there must be some more for you later on in the day…..” I kid you not. That was what little girls and boys from Mam’k did on xmas morning. As if they were taking inventory for a retail chain. Sizing up the quantity but never the quality of what gifts one received.

To say that the Grinch stole xmas was an understatement. It was the classmates dreaded phone calls. Taking out all the excitement and satisfication I had with xmas only to diminish it to an itemized list - sizing up whether or not I was truly a loved child or maybe in their minds….not.

So…maybe it’s just my west coast thing…but does a guy who has $20k to spend on extravagant gifts also typically take a train and not a car service? I’m feeling like the guy who got the list was maybe an assistant and not the boyfriend/husband.

Otherwise the list was hilarious. By the time I got to the 3rd purse, I was thinking “Are you f*cking kidding me? You need maybe ONE expensive purse at a time. ONE. And not an overly fashionable one cuz it’ll just go out of style in like 3 months.”

But you know, that’s just me. My dream xmas list includes travel and money in a savings account.

Siryn - I found it odd he priced EVERYTHING though. (Well, okay, not the Love Bracelet.) He either has an incredible attention to detail and amazing perseverance or he was looking for something, anything that wasn’t several thousand dollars. In any case, Chanel Makeup sounds like a weird request for a young girl. I don’t know…I feel like Nars and MAC are the two go-to brands, and Chanel isn’t something a younger girl would ask for. It’s more, uh, classic? Is that the word?

George - And so you now have your list back!

msd - Absolutely right about the Love Bracelet.

Surreal Estate - Did you ever stop picking up the phone? I would have. Damn. That’s some competitive Christmassing.

Suzanne - Most people take the train. Traffic is too bad and NY roads are too unpredictable (7 hour traffic jams, potholes the size of Texas) to make driving an option. The high end may take their own car, or a hired car, but it’s the exception not the rule. My version of expensive purses is $150. $1000 is crazy to me!

Ann - he was late 30’s / early 40’s - Coming home that late on the train that night, it didn’t seem likely he fit the bill of an Assistant, but I suppose anything is possible.

Looks to me like hubs asked wife for list of what she wants. She, used to luxury, gives a list to him that he gives to his secretary. Secretary does the research on the items and provides him with follow up, hence the hand written notes. I’m not sure why they’re being criticized. I would hope they’re also generous in terms of charitable giving but it’s their money to spend as they wish. Either way they’re contributing to the economy. What do you think rich people give each other for Christmas, Isotoner Gloves and Swatches?? Unless you’re suggesting that the luxury goods industry just simply shut down, who else is going to buy all that expensive crap?

the way some of you are talking is hideous. Does wanting expensive things mean she ‘ better do anal’ in return. What the fuck is wrong with the people suggesting this woman is a whore or alternativly isn’ t sucking her man’s dick enough. Honestly I pity the girlfriends/ wives/daughters of the people who think this way about women. If this was a dude’s list I can’t imagine the conversation sounding even remotely so viscious.

Hahahaaaa. Thanks for posting this. I wish the people who obviously enjoy staying miserable (ohhh, who are you all to judge this poor, poor gold-digging wench??) would shut the hell up and go talk to themselves in the mirror for a while. Maybe in the midst of that, they’d come up with the perfect plan to save the world from itself, cure cancer, and take away everyone’s rights to speak their damn mind lol.

Clearly all the people who are saying “who are you to judge? what’s wrong with rich people spending all their hard-earned money?” are the ones whose xmas lists look exactly like this one - why else would they be taking it so personally? Ok, you all are right - the true spirit of celebrating the birth of Baby Jesus is dropping loads of dough on name-brand luxury items - preferably at least $10-15k per person. Jesus would have been so proud! Let’s see, what did he say?

“Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.’”
-Matthew 19:23-24

Well, this story is getting bigger. I’m reading this on the Times London (iPad edition - my only extravagance in life)…Now the mainstream media have picked this up, I expect they will track down the happy couple……

to Jaimee: The train takes significantly less time than driving anywhere out of NYC. It’s the only chance of getting out of work at 5 and being home by 6 if you live outside the city limits. Chauffeurs don’t make the commute on the road any shorter. Most of the time the Metro North trains during rush hour are packed with people who make more money in a week than I make in a month. The exceptions are the individuals who are David Letterman-esque rich. And usually they stay in Manhattan during the week and travel to their houses in CT on the weekends.

Such a materialistic, greedy, self-centered girl! I can’t believe there are people that actually make up Christmas lists easily worth over $10,000 in useless “stuff”, and even worse, people that would buy someone everything on that horrible list!!

That list is a blatant display of how greedy she is..he probably lost it on purpose so he didn’t have to buy her anything on it! I hope she gets a hand-made macaroni card from him & that’s it!

I found reading this list, and, more importantly the attendant comments, to be a very interesting experience. Rather than allow myself “holier-than-thou” moments of self-gratuitous back-patting (which was extremely hard to resist, I might add), I became introspective and philosophical. I analyzed my own “dream wish list”, and found that it contained items like the following:
1. One Honest Man/Woman with the intelligence and courage to lead us (Props and Kudos to Diogenes the Cynic)
2. A great big purse (from Goodwill, of course) filled with magic dust that, when sprinkled near someone, provides them with instant compassion/understanding for others, and the ability to see one’s self in them. I once read that recognizing our “self” in someone else is the first step to being able to love them. Imagine what such dust could do for diplomacy? Hell, imagine what it could do for the divorce rate????
3. More self-discipline and organization skills…that I actually use consistently. Alas, there seems to be no magic dust for this either.
4. The guts to actually charge my clients for the true amount of time I spend on their projects, which is probably related to #5
5. A better understanding of how my sense of self-worth relates to dollars professionally.

………OK, so, we are getting into areas that only my therapist needs to know, but you get the picture.

When I was kvetching years ago over my son’s seeming unquenchable materialism, I was told that there is “a God-shaped hole” in all of us (substitute whatever term works in your personal ideological framework), and that we spend much time and money trying unsuccessfully to fill this up with stuff and amusement, until we find the peace that comes from learning the value of giving, which, paradoxically, then fills us up. (I have personal paranoid theories about how we are manipulated to always want something bigger, better, “more” by that ever-present servant of capitalism, Madison Avenue, but that’s another lesson, Grasshopper.)

So, my random thoughts on this random list of totally unimportant, random expensive shit, much of which will probably someday find its way into a thrift store of some kind. I love the image of a “bag lady” using one of these “bags” for the treasures she finds on the streets to save.

In closing, I reference the great song by Delbert McClinton, entitled “Too Much Stuff”, which is an indictment of all of us.

Julie - I think it’s less about the things she’s asking for in terms of being luxury goods as it is about the sheer number of items on the list, and the fact that he researched nearly all of them. He’s either shopping around or trying to figure out where to put the most bang for his buck. Would you go through a page and a half list and research all of them? I wouldn’t. I’d look at 3 or 4, and pull the trigger on one of them.

Brad - Well the screwdriver makes it all worth it! I can never find one of those when I need it! I didn’t see a price at all on Cartier’s site so I googled. There was an ebay version for $200 and another online retailer at $6200.

Anonymous - Well, I pity the wives/girlfriends who ask for these things. And I never said she isn’t sucking it enough, I said she isn’t sucking it at all.

MIZZ - omg, you MUST be my friend. THANK YOU!

bdb - Also, thank you. A good point indeed.

Hammer - OMG HELLO!!! Phil can discuss with him the fine art of a Kenny Rogers CD for bringing back the romance.

Namaste - I feel bad for the guy. The fact that he researched all of the items (except as noted, the LOVE bracelet) I feel like he’s one of those guys who is told he’s “wrong” all the time, so he’s trying really hard.

DaveW - Thanks for the tipoff. I had no clue this made it to the other side of the pond.

Jaimee - I think CT Girl answers below…

Bob - I KNOW! Scouring around for Free shipping is, well, something I would do, but my list doesn’t look like this.

CT Girl - I think anyone who drives in, does so at 5 a.m. too.

Dee - It might be over $20,000.

Forever Hippie - Your list can be repackaged into a New Years Resolution list too. I try to make resolutions in the same vein of what you describe, as in “This year I’m going to be the bigger person.” It was sadly followed up the following year with “I’ll be the bigger person, but I will still call someone out for being an asshole.” Re: your son. When I took a trip cross-country for 6 months and had sold everything and only packed the car with what was left, when I got back, I realized how accustomed I had become to not having that much stuff. What little I left in storage I actually wanted to pitch out. It’s liberating.

Egbert - me as well.

Betty Sue - Awesome!

Michael - my answer for you is too long, so it will appear on the next comment.

Big Dog - Well, we aren’t all like that. I’m notoriously crafty at saving money at almost every juncture, to the point where my husband is sick to death of the coupons I pull out of my pockets. But I agree, girls like this do give the rest of us a bad name.

You are mistaking tongue-in-cheek sarcasm for obnoxious hypocrisy. Calling me a hypocrite means you would actually know that I have a list and it has items on it. I’ll indulge you. I’m going to share with you, my Dream List for this year, as told to my husband and one of my closest friends:

1) I want my parents to be healthy (last Christmas was a beast, and this year alone two of my dearest friends lost a parent and my ex-boyfriend’s mother has just found out she has a brain tumor that has metastasized.)
2) I want my dogs to be healthy
3) I’d like the 2011 Real Estate Market to recover

I contribute, as much as I am financially able, to animal rescue groups who do amazing work and who saved my dogs from being euthanized because we live in a world where people want full breed dogs and go to breeders to buy them. When I give money to people, I do so directly: money or dinner to a homeless person on my street who I know, helping a friend who is short on cash, overtipping all waiters and waitresses when I eat in a restaurant because I slaved away waiting tables for 12 years and know what it’s like, and giving my friend the one thing he wants for Christmas because he has no family who will do this for him and because he enriches the lives of my dogs almost every single day of the year. So that’s how I’m not a hypocrite.

Don’t anonymously come on to my website to call my integrity or morality into question because it is a surely a losing battle.

I think he priced everything out because he either could afford it and was serious about getting something, or he just wanted the entertainment of seeing the scope of her “dream” list. Maybe some of both.

As for Chanel… it may not be as trendy Nars, MAC or Urban Decay, but hey, Nicole Kidman uses it! My feeling about her age is like 24. Young enough to want a bicycle, but working and wearing Chanel.

Shit, I’ve had my boyfriend retrace his steps at least ten times since he lost it.

Seriously, this was the last straw. He took me to a place that didn’t have cloth napkins last night. Can you imagine the nerve of that sumbitch?

Please send it back to him. He really needs extra time to pick up a few of those bags. A few are hot items this season and little children in Europe aren’t going to have time to finish making them if he doesn’t order them today.

Bless you for knowing that I have good taste. I really think I like you. Also, are you single?

But I don’t get why people think he shouldn’t spend this money in a recession. What we do want in a recession is for the rich to part with their money and hope it (eventually) goes to the poor. Economics-wise, we want them to spend money, go dining, tip waiters, buy stuff, employing sales associates, and pay fat sales taxes, instead of locking it up in their likely astronomic bank accounts or foreign investments.

I mean, yeah, it’s trickle down (and I mean teeny-tiny TRICKLE-down), so it would be much better if he had donated $700 to some reading program for underserved kids, but it’s still probably better that he spent it then kept it, the way our economy is set up.

They say a fool and his money is soon parted. Well, let’s part this money from this fool…

Siryn - 24 ish b/c of the words like “sparkly”? Is that the giveaway? Ha ha.

Elizabeth - Very funny! Sorry about those scratchy napkins. How dare he?

Jenny - He / they can do what they want with their money. As I said earlier, I personally could never spend that much money on that sort of “stuff.” However, I think that the other part of this is that as we’ve learned, a ton of these bajillionaires didn’t really have any money at all. A few months out of work, or with reduced bonuses and they were all crying poor. It seems irresponsible in this day and age, as we’re having the worst economic crisis ever. Though, to counter that, even when times are good, I can’t get behind this sort of spending. I’m a stick it in the bank type.

Ayesha and Kate - Sigh. I want so desperately to answer you in full, however, we have officially beat this to death. See the 105 comments above you? We’ve been round and round with this. This is supposed to be funny. Humorous. Comedy. Tongue in cheek sarcasm. Lighten up. If it’s not funny to you, then I’m not the writer for you to be reading. Find something else because you clearly missed the point with this one.

I find the responses to this very interesting. Why is everyone assuming this is a whiny girlfriend of some poor chump?

For all we know, she could be buying him a Lamborghini for Christmas. I could very easily imagine my boss (yes, my boss – a highly intelligent and accomplished woman of 51) making a Christmas list like this for her husband (yes, husband). But for Christmas she also bought him a $24,000 trip to paradise (I know, because I saw the credit card bill). These two could easily be married. The closeness of their relationship is alluded to by her asking for makeup she doesn’t already have, regardless of the fact that he doesn’t actually know.

And presumably the woman (probably not girl) who made her wish list has some idea of what her boyfriend/husband can afford. If she’s dating someone who shops at Bell’s and they go out for dinner at Kelsey’s, then it’s unlikely she’d be asking for these items.

Lastly, there are plenty of wealthy men who expect their girlfriends/wives to have all the latest, because these women act in part as markers of their own success. I personally am a very frugal person but have had relationships with men in this realm. I always thought they’d be impressed by my lack of pretension along with my frugality, but believe me that is not the case. My bargain $30 handbag or $80 shoes do not reflect well on these men, even if I think they’re perfectly fine.

Not so much “sparkly,” but “fancy hair products.” I feel like that Microsoft commercial for the Windows Phone… “Really??!”

My boyfriend bought me some makeup for Christmas, an Estee Lauder gift set. It’s not my brand (Nars), but God bless him, it was a thoughtful gift, because he’s seen the size of my makeup bag. And I will use what I can of it, happily, because he tried. I don’t expect him to rummage around in my makeup bag and figure out what colors I would like.

The Canadian dream is about fulfillment and life’s experiences. It’s about family, diversity, education and travel.

We have done the American dream - 7 years in the upscale burbs with the picket fences keeping up with the Joneses.

I am really surprised at the strong reactions to this list! Times must have changed in the States. Most of the housewives we knew in Orange County, Westchester, and Mercer Island, could have penned a comparable list!

Misha - Good points in all, my assumption based on his notes though were that he was desperately trying to please her. If he were the busy wheeler dealer he would need to be to pay for this, he would have researched 2 or 3, and made a choice. Instead, he went looking at almost every item. It’s a lot of work he did.

Siryn - Aww! I love hearing there is a thoughtful boyfriend in your life!! Finally you get some happiness you have waited a long time for. I’m really happy for you.

Matt- the privacy issue has been addressed in other places, but if you leave something behind in a public place, it’s now public. I wouldn’t leave the keys to a Jaguar or the combo to Donald Trump’s safe laying around then pounce on someone who uses it citing breach of privacy. In the case where celebrity sex tapes were obtained by breaking into a house, i.e. Pam and Tommy Lee, their privacy was breached WHEN the house was broken into and a crime committed. This is far different.

Dead Cow Girl - I just read your post today. OMG! Wow! Had to open the door to cool my cheeks down you naughty girl. And I don’t know why people are taking it so seriously. It’s all pretty funny to me. But like I say to my friends, “I’m an asshole. I make fun of everything.”

Matt - Times HAVE changed, and I think that’s why the reaction was so swift to this list. People are wondering where the hell the other people are who can make lists like this, when the rest of the country (world) is living paycheck to paycheck, if they even have a paycheck at all. You may have found this from the CBC, for who I did an interview and a blog post was written. As I said on that interview, we just watched all these Wall Street guys live high and large, for many many years, only to find that the banks all folded like houses of cards because the guys had, and I’d like to scream this NO FUCKING IDEA WHAT THEY WERE DOING. So then we had to watch the government bail them out, one by one, and they still took bonuses. Do we know this couple is one and the same? No. But we assume that since he is in finance, that we’re just gearing up for the next bubble again and they’re going to help us get there.

I keep saying this but some people seem to not listen to it: It is their business to do what they want with their money. It’s no longer their business when they rack up debt and file bankruptcy or go into short sale / foreclosure and have to be bailed out. Since there are very few people living high and large anymore and times are so so so tough, it’s almost unconscionable that there are people out there who have missed the point of this whole recession / bubble we’re enduring.

Gosh and golly, I’m excited to find so many other people engaged in decoding other people’s lists. Among my primary activities is collecting, sifting through, and re-presenting these manifestations of other people’s intentions and priorities.

Though I tend to be most engaged by lists that, on the surface, seem far more mundane than the holiday wish list that has sparked such an outpouring of commentary, I thought I’d share a rather extraordinary specimen sent to me anonymously through a project I undertook called “Checking It Twice,” which involved the solicitation of cast-off grocery and other “to do” lists and an exhibition of list-based artworks at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art, which struggles to keep its doors open in this financial climate.

Though I received close to a thousand lists in the donation envelopes through which I bartered list-related temporary tattoos for discarded lists, one that stood out as warranting the kind of laborious process I apply to choice selections from my collection might interest some of the people on this thread who have lamented various aspects of the unnamed “dream” list maker.

Though this is a re-production at a monumentalizing scale (400%), I do try to translate the original artifact faithfully, so you can get a pretty good sense of the original list. I’m not sure which I find more poignant: the fact that the writer puts things like “buy smaller / build smaller,” “create community,” and “*earn the resources to finish house + pay off debt” on a “to do” list, or that he or she took the time to mail me this list, presumably after all these big picture items had been taken care of. (And if that’s the case, I’m pretty impressed…)

As I meticulously carved the last line on the list and then spent many hours sanding and burnishing the surface, it occurred to me that perhaps the reason I had not managed to pay off my debt was that I hadn’t put it on my “to do” list. Here’s another list that reminds us perhaps we need to put all the things we want to do on our “to do” lists: http://adrianeherman.typepad.com/photos/inlaid_burnishing_clay/g.html

I’d be delighted to send self-addressed stamped envelopes to anyone who has [hand-written] lists you’d like to offer for use in my ongoing project. (You can email me from the above-mentioned site.) As someone noted earlier in this thread, hand-written or hand-annotated lists grow increasingly rare as electronic devices increasingly supplant pen/cil and paper, and I believe that evidence of how we spend the resources of time, energy and money is worthy of archiving, study and reflection.

Velvet, first of all, your post is hilarious! Really really funny! My second level of thinking is that this list and person is shallow and that is both sad and irritating.

Thirdly, I am sorry everyone has hijacked your thread to discuss commercialism, Christmas, giving,desiring,needs, wants, etc….but fourthly,no, I am not really sorry, it is a cool thing that you were able to provide the starting point to let others really discuss some important topics.

What can I add that has not already been said? I don’t believe that we need this kind of “luxury” spending to keep the economy healthy. There are plenty of other “needs” we could support instead of “wants”. (My personal opinion is that overall it is too bad that we want luxury goods when there are people and animals with not enough to eat, not enough hope to dream at all, of anything. People afraid of the sound of a plane overhead, children who only see pain and hurt, therefore cannot learn of love in any way. Like someone above said….really I am a hypocrite to feel that way, yet continue live a lower/middle-class life…what I have, that does not seem like much, is extravagant to most of the world. I have food, opportunity, safety, comfort, love, medicine, access to almost anything I “need”. Wow.)

It sounds to me like this list-maker probably has “friends” that need to be impressed for her to feel good about herself. Possibly she has never learned how to love, because maybe she was never shown love. We could argue all day about someone like this being able to know better and “choosing” to be so selfish, but I’ll bet she had no one in her life that said: “I love you for you, no matter what.” (and meant it). A child can be neglected and unloved in a rich house the same as in a poor house. And the broken kids growing up in the rich house probably have a better shot at wielding power in the future, so are more likely to affect us negatively. Maybe we should invest educational dollars in teaching self esteem to the rich preschoolers! (okay that was a joke. I think.) Anyway, this person needs the LOVE not the bracelet. She just does not know it.

List Lover - I dated a man once who made a mysterious list that you would have loved. Too bad I didn’t take it. But he was in the shower, and would have known it was me. the list was itemized 1 through 7, and 4 of the items were women’s names (none were me) and the other three were things like “television” and “scuba” or something that you wouldn’t expect to find on such a list. Then, as with this post, it was his notes that threw me off. Next to each item, he had renumbered and starred certain things. TV was first. The other girls were all after the TV. Very odd. I should have asked.

Elaine - Well said! I don’t mind the comments being hijacked, as long as people actually read the post and then the corresponding comments. Plenty of people who didn’t read what had already transpired were commenting on things that were erroneous. I felt at the end there like I was repeating myself over and over to people.

And you’re right, there are other ways to support an economy besides buying high-end luxury goods. Tons of other ways. I was more so just generally making fun of the girl with this over-the-top list, and felt sorry for the guy, and felt sorry for the rest of the girls who have to deal with damaged men who once had a girlfriend like this. After all, this is my focus. I write/wrote a dating and relationship blog, and I’m a sarcastic asshole who makes fun of everyone. But then people (on this site, and on the others where the post was featured) were going down the road of questioning why and how she was choosing to spend the money. It’s secondary to what I originally intended to focus on, but definitely worth the analysis.

I only have a taste for luxury goods when I can get them at an incredible steal. Like paying $68 for a $395 Kate Spade bag. Yeahhhhhh! If someone bought me that stuff at full price, I’d cry. The thrill is in the deal for me.

And in all seriousness, my husband couldn’t afford to buy me all that stuff (except maybe that passport cover we are all getting her) but he sure as hell would never correct my writing if I wasn’t asking him to do so!